One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 931 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

I Hate Valentine’s Day. There, I Said It.

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 11, 2015 · 62 Comments

Maybe there is something wrong with me but I am not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. In fact, I’m pretty much anti Valentine’s Day. I don’t think you need a day on the calendar to tell someone you love them. I don’t think you have to spend $100 on a special dinner out or $50 on a bouquet of flowers that are just going to die in 5 days. I think Valentine’s Day is a “Hallmark Holiday.”

According to an article on Huffington Post, the average person will spend $133.91 on cards, candy, dinner, etc. just for Valentine’s Day. No wonder it has become a commercial push for who can get the biggest part of the market share! That is only slightly less than I have spent on groceries since the beginning of the year. According to CNN.com an estimated 224 million roses are grown just for this one day.

I’ve been married for over 20 years now and to me, “love” is when you ask your half asleep husband to crawl out of bed and fetch you the bag of gummi bears you have hidden in the center console of your car at 10 pm because you are in the middle of watching a Grey’s Anatomy marathon and you’re to lazy to get them yourself. Love is showing your appreciation and affection all year long. It’s forgiving. It’s sometimes messy and infuriating, but it’s always there, day after day.

One day of materialism with cards, chocolates, and flowers just isn’t going to maintain love the whole year through…but it will potentially lighten your wallet. The HH and I just agree: no need to buy each other anything. I say, tell me you love me–that’s free, and it means something…but let’s just save our money for something awesome, like self-purchased gummi bears that you can hide in the console of your car for when you really, really need them.

If you are boycotting the commercial part of Valentine’s day, but still want to spread the love, check out some Valentine’s Day Trivia to woo your partner with {don’t laugh, trivia totally makes people fall in love with you. It’s fact.}

Am I alone here…any of YOU hate Valentine’s Day too?

~Mavis

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Free Kindle Books, Merrell Boots, Money Magazine, P J Savage, Frye Boots, Recipes and More

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 11, 2015 · 1 Comment

Word of the Day: Misanthrope Definition: Hater of mankind Used in a sentence: Mr. Blank is a misanthrope.

Yesterday was another glorious day spent in the garden. 🙂 🙂 🙂 And would you believe the weather man is predicting today could get up to 60 degrees? Holy cow man, this is February. I’ll take it!

Have a great Wednesday everyone,

♥ Mavis

Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day – Miracle-Gro AeroGarden EXTRA LED Indoor Garden with Gourmet Herb Seed Kit

Amazon Bonus Deal of the Day – Up to 40% Off Select New Philips Bluetooth Speakers

Available Kindle Books I think are cool…

50 Easy Frozen Yogurt Recipes Free
Taking the Lead: Lessons from a Life in Motion $1.99
The Vegan Table: 200 Unforgettable Recipes for Entertaining Every Guest at Every Occasion $9.99
A Passion Most Pure Free
How To Set Goals Free
Greenhouse Gardening the Easy Way! Free
A Spool of Blue Thread: A novel $10.99

The prices on Kindle Books can change quickly, so grab them while you can. Don’t have a Kindle? Download the kindle app on your other devices. It’s easy! 🙂

15 Count KIND Healthy Grains Granola Bars, Vanilla Blueberry $7.67 shipped with subscribe and save.
36 Rolls of Scott Extra Soft Double Roll Tissue $14.65 shipped when you clip the $1.00 off coupon and use the subscribe and save option at checkout.
6 Colgate Extra Clean Toothbrushes $5.58 shipped when you use the subscribe and save option at checkout.

*Keep in mind you can cancel your Subscribe and Save membership at anytime. To cancel or change your items, simply click on “My Account” and then click on “Subscriptions.” You can easy peasy modify or cancel any of your Subscribe and Save items at anytime, no obligation at all.*

I probably over-garlic everything because garlic is the best thing ever. Find out How to Roast Garlic and make it even better {I didn’t think it was possible either, but it is!!}. Find more helpful hints on my Easy Kitchen Tips Pinterest Board.

6pm has a large assortment of Frye Boots and Accessories on sale today with savings up to 70% off.

6pm also has P J Salvage Sleep Pants on sale for $14.99 shipped {was $46}. These are the coziest jammie pants ever! My mother buys The Girl and I a pair every year for Christmas and we love them.

Amazon has the Intex Classic Downy Airbed Set with 2 Pillows and Double Quick Hand Pump, Queen on sale for just $22.37 and it ships FREE with Amazon Prime. Perfect for house guests or camping!

Get a 1 year subscription to Money Magazine for just $11.96. Money is the nation’s largest personal finance magazine. Money Magazine’s mission is to help readers make better decisions, not just in their investment portfolio, but everywhere life and money intersects – family, home, health, finances, career, spending and their future.

Get the ArmorAll AA255 Utility Wet/Dry Vacuum, 2.5 gallon, for just $30.99 {was $49.99}. ArmorAll’s Utility Wet/Dry Vacs have the ability to clean up both solids and liquids, offering seemingly unlimited uses. The 2.5 gallon polypropylene tank is small enough to carry around, but large enough for most jobs.

Looking for a great baby shower gift? Amazon currently has the highly rated Graco Pack ‘n Play Playard, Aspery on sale for $39 shipped!

Rei has the Men’s Merrell Glacier Shell Boots on sale for $59.83 shipped!! These boots retail for $120 so we are talking about a HUGE SAVINGS.

Nordstrom is having a big Clearance Sale with savings up to 40% off in every department.

Back in Stock!

Lodge 5-Piece Pre-Seasoned Cast-Iron Cookware Set $63.99 shipped!
Ringer Cast Iron Cleaner XL 8×6 Inch Stainless Steel Chainmail for $17.99.

This Vegan Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream not only tastes awesome, it’s also super rich and creamy. I’m not opposed to serving it for breakfast. In the winter. Get the recipe HERE or Pin for Later.

Check out these New Printable Coupons:

Find More Printable Coupons

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Nutella Cheesecake Squares

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 10, 2015 · 10 Comments

Yes, they are as good as they sound. Yes, you can ignore calories while eating them. Yes, whoever thought to put cheesecake and Oreos and Nutella together is a freakin genius. Yes, you should drop everything and go make these.

We clear? These are little squares of pure awesome. And I’m pretty sure if people made them and gave them to their enemies, we’d have world peace practically overnight.

Ingredients

2 cups Oreo crumbs
1/2 stick butter, melted
16 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon milk{I used 2%}
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup Nutella

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with cooking spray and line with parchment paper, pressing the parchment paper fully into the corners. Set aside.

In a food processor or Blendtec, pulse Oreos until they become crumbs {if you don’t have either, you can throw them in a Ziploc bag and attack it with a rolling pin}. Add butter to Oreos and mix until combined. Press evenly into the bottom of prepared dish. Bake about 12 minutes or until set. Set aside to cool.

In a stand mixer or in your food processor, combine cream cheese, eggs, sugar, 1/4 cup milk, and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Put about 2/3rds of the mix in a bowl and set aside. Add the Nutella and remaining 1 tablespoon of milk to the 1/3 cream cheese mixture left in the mixer or processor. Blend until smooth.

Carefully spread the cheesecake mixture you set aside, over the cooled Oreo crust. Then evenly spread the Nutella cheesecake layer on top. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool completely before placing in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours. Serve chilled. Enjoy.

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Mavis Garden Blog – Moving Stones and Plant Identification

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 10, 2015 · 14 Comments

The weather on Sunday turned out to be nicer than I expected and as a result, I spent most of the day outside moving rocks. I know, pretty exciting stuff, right? I was originally going to install a brick border, but decided it against it after I tallied up how much the project would cost {about $300}.

I think sometimes we forget how much of a difference we can make in our yards {and our homes} if we just put our wallet away and get down on our hands and knees and clean the place up a bit. Moving rocks and widening a path is free, so is rearranging and dividing up perennials.

I’m on a strict $100 a month landscaping budget this year and I really want to make every penny count. SO if digging up rock and moving them to higher ground and into a new design saves me some money, that’s what I am going to do.

This morning I received an email from Raintree Nursery informing me my blueberry and raspberry bushes along with my strawberry plants have shipped. If all goes well, they should arrive tomorrow. Which means, I’ll need to go back outside today and finish up my mini herb/vegetable garden area today so my plants don’t end up sitting in a box all week and drying out. Luckily, I know where I want to plant everything.

Oh, and on Sunday, I planted 2 more leland cypress tress. Don’t tell anyone. 😉

What do you think these are? Mini irises?

And last but not least, check out the flat of lettuce I started from seed under grow lights a few weeks ago. It’s almost ready!

How is YOUR garden coming along these days? Got the itch to get out there and dig yet?

~Mavis

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